The Rising Sun
by MistyInfinity
Summary: Makoto Aihara and Reiko Hinomoto deal with their loses in the Rumble Rose tournament.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any Rumble Roses XX Characters, they are the property of Konami. Strong profanity may ensue as well as some mild violence.

**Author's Notes:** The theme of this set of unrelated stories are Duos. I enjoyed subtitling my fan fictions and stuck with it. So now you know what your getting yourself into if you decide to click. No one really writes (a lot) about Teams I decided to myself. This is a partial canon story assumes what happened to the contestants upon losing the Rumble Rose. This is the realistic approach which sadly means no Lady X or Anesthesia.

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_**The Rising Sun**_  
by MistyInfinity  
Chapter One

"I've already told you, its all about the money," Candy flaunted again in a cute pose that had both hands on the hips. She leaned forward to smear her competitor with as much shame as she could. Makoto Aihara, on the mat looking up, head a pounding, had Candy's every word stain her membrane. "And to think I had something to worry about." 

Makoto sat up with her legs tucked underneath, her palm pressed against her chest as she attempted to catch her breath. "W-What do you mean," came Makoto's exasperated question.

Candy was tickled by it. She rolled her eyes in succession, contracting her brows downward. Then Candy licked her lips for sly smirk. "_Makoto Aihara the Judo Babe_," Candy mocked her as though having helium infused lungs. Rolling her eyes again and clearing her throat, she continued her rant while standing upwards with her arms folded in front of her. "Isn't that what you said? You're suppose to be some 'babe' of Judo and you give me this half assed match?" Candy laughed lightly out of fascination. "I thought I was the only one half assing shit around here. Apparently its good enough to get me through to another round. And against cow girl at that. And if the 'legendary judo babe' is shit then she probably is too. And that just makes makes that money as good as mine."

Makoto clung to the second rope behind her and arise with care from off her knees. Her face showed a slight brim of sadness, and shock when she turned her head to face Candy Cane. She was an up and coming garage band rock star, She was wearing no more than; a mini tan plaid skirt, an open blouse with no brazier, gloves and arm pads. And with little skill, reduced the judo prodigy to a green horn. Wrestling was uncharted territory for her ,but Judo was not. Her techniques were thwarted, her balance hapless, her poise and calmness unseen. The only thing Makoto had going for her was good sportsmanship. Makoto dropped her arms to both sides for a bow. She bowed her head to point of being about to touch her feet with her noise. She only wanted to show her utmost respect for her boisterous opponent. "Thank you for the good match. It was an honor to fight you," Makoto remarked with feint sincerity as though to let hints of sarcasm trickle into her words.

Whether or not Candy caught those false sediments, the distinct pleasure of being befuddled was all hers. "Um pardon," Candy quipped as the urge to further insult Makoto took hold. "I told you at the beginning of this match that I was going to kick some ass and now your telling me your grateful for it?"

Makoto's eyelids dimmed as her dead glare wanted to hammer into the thick skull of the merciless girl. Just to see what makes her _such a bitch._ How good would it feel to elbow her right in the stomach, watching her fall to her knees. And then to see Makoto's foot smash right in between those cold baby blue eyes. Makoto gasped at her own urges to strike this young woman outside of a legal bout. It was not proper decorum. No amount of verbal provocation should force such a blow that would provide temporary titillation, and most likely a hefty consequence. The right head was on. Makoto feigned a smile that was more nervous then friendly. "I gave it my all. So I have no regrets. I can only become stronger," Makoto said bowing once more.

"Interesting," was Candy's vapid retort. "What ever the hell they teach you back there in the land of the rising sun, dump that shit cuz it ain't helping." Candy changed direction for the ropes nearest the ramp for her exit. It was in that instant, to which Candy stepped in between the top and second rope, did Makoto imagined herself kicking Candy out on to the floor. Makoto didn't move much to the disapproval of her venomous urge to be spiteful. The surround sound of the audience members cheering on the unorthodox wrestler, proved to be hard for the humble Makoto to take. This insatiable want to cause her pain was implanted in her brain, waiting to be filled like a ticking time bomb.

-X-

**The Next Night at the Rumble Rose**

Unbridled and unstoppable was the force called Dixie Clemets. Reiko sat hunched over in the same locker room with Dixie. Reiko's hands were clasped together and resting in her lap with her eyes locked on the space between the soles of her feet. It wasn't the most interesting thing to watch, but better than hearing the sounds of a sandbag taking a hit every second or so. Dixie Clemets was getting ready for her final bout against Candy Cane whilst Reiko wallowed in her own shame.

Her face was empty but her mind wasn't. For a while it seems there are cobwebs but every time this space is cleaned the nymph Echo's cursed fate resounds in Reiko's head the voice of a harsh critic. _I'm nothing special? Mother's flipping around in her grave? She won our match...Aisha._

"Say Reiko," Dixie called holding the sandbag in place. Reiko slowly picked herself up into a natural upwards position with a straight back, head facing Dixie without so much as a change in her blank expression. Doom and gloom as Reiko may be she couldn't take from Dixie that tonight was her night. "I'm kinda bummed out that it isn't you and me in the final match but it was nice to meet you finally."

"What do you mean 'finally'? It's not like I'm a celebrity or anything like Aisha," Reiko said lacking any evident of life in her voice.

"Aisha is too much ego so don't let her bother ya," Dixie winked. "But you are kinda famous ya know. Not everyone can claim to be the daughter of a legend."

"And that gives me notoriety," Reiko asked she frowned and felt her temperatures rising.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about," Dixie remarked still clueless to the depth of which she may have offended Reiko. "I mean your not flaunting that you're Kamikaze Rose's daughter you sure don't wrestle like her." _She was the one who trained me dumb ass_, Reiko thought in between Dixie's speech. "You have your own unique style that's certainly settling into its own." _And just what the hell is that suppose to mean?_ "Maybe one day we can finally have that match together. I look forward to it."

"Because I'm Kamikaze Rose's daughter," Reiko blurted out with her sharp tongued thoughts about to be made known. "Is that the only reason you feel I'm worth being your opponent?"

Dixie raised her brow throwing her away her jovial appearance for a grimace and ounce of attitude. "It's not your wrestling if that's what you want to believe," Dixie responded now purposely being callous. "Aisha is not a challenge for someone who can actually work in the ring. Missy diva wasn't born with the genes of a wrestler and only finds little time to train with her work schedule."

Reiko eased up off the bench, taking a sigh as she walked with slow agonizing steps towards Dixie. A violent confrontation seemed likely to happen. Reiko stopped right in front of Dixie, and tilted her head back to get a view of this woman. She was just agitated all over. But Reiko's emotions were controlled, refusing to show on the blank canvas that is her face. "You believe that because I was given birth to by your wrestling Goddess that I'm suppose to be like her? That its my job to continue carrying on her name? And to surpass her in everything she's ever done? Do you?" Reiko had that vehemence in her voice that resonated her disgust for everything Dixie believed was Reiko's duty.

Dixie scoped around the room at its every corner before staring back down at Reiko Hinomoto. No such intimidation got to Dixie. "No Reiko I don't," Dixie replied unnerving. "You **can't** do any of those things." Dixie moved her hand in time with her word 'can't' to add further insult to Reiko. "As of right now, the only woman that can be better than Kamikaze Rose is me. This business is my life, I sleep, eat and breathe it." She stared down into Reiko's eyes to make sure she was heeding this message. "Kamikaze Rose inspired me to wrestle but its become my passion and like she was in her day I'm going to bust my ass to be the best of this here generation of women wrestlers and can't anyone say something about that."

_Anyone, _Reiko thought. She must of miscounted Reiko because she did have something to say on it. "So be it then, that's your prerogative. Have a nice life," were Reiko's final words before leaving the room. _You stupid bitch._

-X-

The last match was of no importance to Reiko. She stormed into her locker room, eyes in sight of her opened gym bag. It was time to get her things and leave, she had no more business being there. As they say on a popular reality television program 'Your journey ends here' and that's been the case for Reiko a while ago.

Flinging her belongings away into the bag she suddenly hears the closing of a locker from across the room. She looks over to see Makoto Aihara there cleaning out her locker as well. Reiko doesn't really have any real quarrels with her -- but she's about to. Reiko turns around and claps her hand together ready to spew out some venom. "Gee I'm sorry Makoto you caught me at a bad time and there is something I want to tell you," Reiko said, her accent changing into to something more boyish.

Makoto turns around and cuts her off before she speaks any further, sporting a deeper tone of voice as well. "There's something I want to tell you as well. I think you're patronizing bitch. You talk of 'let's do our best Makoto' and your matches turn out like shit."

Reiko was tickled and responded with cheery sarcasm. "Wow look at whose talking? Little Makoto who came to play in the major leagues with the big girls and got her ass handed to her. Why don't you carry your ass back on to Japan."

"I am," Makoto retorted with vehemence. "I no longer have any more reason to waste my time with wrestling."

Reiko still kept up with her cheery sarcasm. "What a career," She drawled. "That went by in an instant."

Makoto raised an eyebrow wickedly smiling at the humor in it herself. "Funny considering you were wrestling longer than me and we both have the same thing to show for it, nothing."

Reiko saw the similarities herself and followed up with it by adding her own observations. "Not to mention losing to two bitches who can't sing. What are the odds?"

"Heh what are the odds indeed," Makoto laughed and then shifted into something more light and serious as her moment of being heated with Reiko faded and self pity plagued her. "So you still have that job as a race queen right?"

"Pretty much, crappy ass job," Reiko said scratching the back of her head. Experiencing the same guilt and shame as Makoto. "You're just going to go back to your parents house aren't you?"

"For now yes," Makoto responded having a bit of resistance in her voice. "But I'm going to take charge of my own life now. I can find someway to pass the time."

Reiko scratched her chin and replied with the same bit of resistance. "So can I."

Makoto slung her bag over her shoulder and walked to the locker room door turning back to look at Reiko whilst in the doorway. "Well...good luck to you."

"Same to you, see ya round," Reiko responded with a nod. Makoto exited the room and Reiko finished packing her belongings with the weight of being a failure sitting on her mind.

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**Author's Notes:** This is important. This story is based on the fact that once a contestant lost they were gone for good. With that said although Reiko's first match IS Candy Cane for this story it was Aisha and for Makoto her second match is against Candy Cane but again is treated like her first match and everyone else don't matter lol. 


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Rising Sun**_  
by MistyInfinity  
Chapter Two

The airport was filled with morning commuters, but with room to stretch your arms and swing them round, made it seem quite the opposite. Perhaps a metaphor for Reiko's life experiences. While it may seem like dozens of on lookers were impressed with Reiko's ring work, they were actually looking to see Kamikaze Rose's incarnation. Something Reiko is not. Something she always remembers. Eyes dimmed and head pointed inward, Reiko traversed the halls of the airport not even hearing the rolling wheels of her travel bag.

Today the morning sky was just as gray as the young woman's spirit with plasters of white marking the clouds. She rolled in her misery bringing back the kind hearted Reiko whose lips would not dare spill anything derogatory. She is human after all. This sadden state proves it. Reiko's typical attitude is that of prime nativity, always optimistic and over zealous. Courtesy is part of being a lady as she was taught through her mother's rearing, but no one can expect to be that way all the time. Wanting to smite a fellow who's well deserving of it is natural; Hurting those that wish to be hurtful.

Reiko glided to a set of red cushion seats to get comfortable for a while. It was time to check her airline tickets and see when her flight to Tokyo, Japan was ready for departure. From there it would just be a train ride to Yokohama – home. She sighed lightly as even that thought didn't bring her back to the high she was the previous day. Instant gratification usually does that to a person. And it did feel good attempting to put Dixie Clemets in her place. She had the audacity to tell Kamikaze Rose's daughter that she didn't have the ring prowess to surpass her own mother – and then insist she did herself. It didn't register well in Reiko's mind and the confusion set of an impulse to object.

It was one of those insistences where Reiko would think: _What would mom had said?_ And in pondering that Reiko suddenly struck herself with even more woe. Kamikaze Rose was one of a kind and in this day in age, a rarity in the wrestling business. It couldn't be denied that she was a great Ring Technician and even better Ring General. Someone promoters of Sports Entertainment and general wrestling would pay any amount to have perform on their show. Though for something more relevant, Kamikaze was charismatic and charming. Kamikaze Rose was the Jackie Kennedy to her peers as well as other women athletes. She was always witty enough to not allow her opponents to rattle her and somehow managed to keep her ladylike demeanor when speaking to agitators. Her ability to remain calm and graceful made the job of kunoichi seem like cakewalk. It was so inhuman, so godly that it must be why she lies above in the heavens now. Kamikaze was too good a person to keep on earth, a crater of hell.

In another breath Reiko was beginning to feel shell shocked, almost gearing up to cry. It hurt so much to have to deal with the reality that Kamikaze Rose no longer existed. Its been ten long years since her death. That part of the past that holds the sweetest of endearing memories seemed to fade under the pretense that Kamikaze Rose just can't be a memory. You shouldn't have to hold on to the pain to relive the memory, but its the boundary through heaven and hell that toggles on whim. Sometimes people say "If I can only hear your voice one more time..." though the sound of the dearly departed's voice is the knife still plunged in your back. Fujiko had an accent similar to their mother's but to Reiko she may as well be a phantasm, for she too left for America and never came back. It's most likely the reason why her reality appears to be fading to black.

All around her is black and soundless, a space of no beginning and no ending – a stagnant reality. Time should stand still and allow Reiko to catch up. She shuts her eyes to relish in her imaginary illusion, holding herself and feeling her affliction as an emotion of epic portions began to invade in her world. It moves in moderation but she hasn't noticed it yet. Kamikaze Rose was no longer and so was the past. Fujiko too a phantasm, so no present. How could there be a future for Reiko? _Mother, Fujiko, _Reiko thought. What was tampering with her being? Was it a force of nature? The only thing that had a connection was the fact that both her past and present ended in America.

_America._ In the blackness at the edges came redness inching towards Reiko but her eyes were still shut and she was hung on the thought of "America". The muscles in her face contracted into an angry grimace. Reiko's defining match was up against an American, Aisha. She ridiculed Reiko in that match. _Mother rolling around in her grave?_ Reiko thought as the redness fizzed and began to bubble oozing closer. Those words Aisha spewed at her were harsh and not only that, the hard hitting Shooter was destined to prove it. _Cheap ass strikes,_ She thought making the redness rush faster. "_Come on get up and dance!" Dumb ass comments._ The only ounce of her world that was still black was the space just under her feet. She had completely filled this world with her hateful thinking and it was only a matter of time until...

"Reiko!"

A voice broke the barrier that was Reiko's imagination and she was right back at the airport where she started. Reiko was startled as she swung her head right side up and looked in the direction from which her name was called. Pulling her bag and looking a bit fanatic running to Reiko was Makoto Aihara, easily identified by her signature bow of surprisingly neutral colors.

"Makoto," Reiko said as Makoto rushed up bowing fast and barely trying to catch her breath.

"Are you alright?"

Reiko was still trying to catch up with being thrown back in the real world so soon but that statement allowed her to retain a look of surprise. "Yes? I'm fine," Reiko said with weary utters. "Why do you ask?"

Makoto gave out light exhales with her hand pressed to her chest. "Because you're crying."

"I'm crying?" Reiko felt the sides of her face that were moist from the tears she didn't know she produced. In seeing Makoto's frighten state, though she may be over exaggerating, Reiko quickly put on a facade of cheeriness with a soft smile. "I'm fine really." Makoto didn't seem to buy it, face stiffened with concern as she handed Reiko a tissue. Reiko accepted it and yet again tried to put on a front that she was happy. "You really don't need to worry me. Every thing's fine," Reiko said adding in a laugh that sounded more forced than natural.

Makoto answered with a smile that melted as soon as it appeared. She took a seat right next to Reiko situating her travel bag in front of her. "Sorry. I just never seen you cry before and thought something serious happened. You seem so tough out there in the ring."

Now Reiko could smile without faking it. "The general rule is to not cry until you get backstage but you seem pretty tough yourself."

Makoto's cheeks spawned a rosy hue as that put her in high spirits. "Thanks. That would probably make my grandfather happy at least."

"Your grandfather? I take it his opinion of you matters a lot."

Makoto nodded. "Yes! You see my grandfather was the one who trained me in Judo. So making my teacher proud does matter a great deal to me."

Reiko turned away feeling her mood drop slightly and nodded. "Yeah I can understand that."

Makoto tilted her head looking at Reiko curiously, having some thoughts on Reiko's sudden dejection that she wanted cleared. "Your mother trained you to wrestle right?"

"Me and my sister used to wrestle with her when we were younger," Reiko said. Thinking more of it refreshed her spirits a little. "We could never pin her though. Sometimes when we thought she was sleeping, we would try and pin her, but then found ourselves floating in air and giggling because she tricked us." A lovely thought that brought a lovely smile with it. "I did think she was half asleep sometimes."

"You must miss her a lot."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry," Makoto retorted.

"Huh? You don't need to be sorry," Reiko responded out of confusion.

"It's just that I was stating the obvious and I have a habit of annoying people with the way I act. So I'm trying to change a little."

Reiko thought about it a little and felt some guilt of her own. "I don't think you need to change but if its about that "Miss" thing then I apologize. I was just a little embarrassed by you being so formal out here."

"I understand but I have some growing up to do," Makoto smile for spell then laxed into neutrality. "I feel awful about the things I said yesterday. I never felt so angry in my life."

"Yeah I too didn't mean any of the things I said but just felt the need to speak up. Even if that meant being disrespectful."

"But you know, I work hard on my Judo. I'm the top performer in my weight division and put days and nights into remaining that way. So my first loss to Aigle and then to that school girl really hurt. All the work I put into this felt like nothing especially given that the girl just completely denounced all of the principles I was taught and even my teacher. And no one disrespects my grandfather."

"I felt that way too with Dixie and the singer. Denouncing me was like denouncing my mother, because she was the one who taught me everything I knew. I wrestle in collegel too but that's besides the point. None of them had the right to say all the things they said to us. People expect so much of us for different reasons, when we screw up its just that much worse."

"That's just the way things are for us I suppose."

"It's unfair I think. If I had a chance of restarting my career free from the image of "Kamikaze Rose's daughter" I would give it go."

Makoto face lit up at the idea. "You can! We both can start from scratch!"

"How do you figure that?"

"Well we both lost in the Rumble Rose and tarnished whatever image people had of us in their minds. Coming back and starting anew should be a breeze!"

"You have a point," Reiko said thinking on it some more as she scratched her chin. "Are you saying we should reinvent ourselves?"

"Yup!"

Not that she should be but Reiko was surprised by Makoto's alacrity. "You seem to be much happier now."

Makoto had to let out a giggle to that covering her mouth with her hands. "I am! Something new is always exciting."

"I suppose your right."

"Unless you still want to be a jobber I understand that changing may not be your thing," Makoto said with a mischievous smirk.

Reiko was appalled. "I don't job to nobody!"

"Okay then!" Makoto cheered. "I guess that means our flights home are cancelled."

"Pretty much," Reiko laughed.

"Just one more thing though."

"What's that?"

"You really think those girls can't sing?"

Reiko burst into laughter remembering what she said in anger. "Well everybody can sing...they all just don't sound good."

"So what your saying is you wouldn't buy any of their albums?"

"Nope."

"Me neither," Makoto said as they both enjoy a laugh over their meanness.


End file.
